Xcimer Energy announced June 4 that it has raised $100 million in Series A financing for a new facility in Denver, Colo., that will host a prototype laser system with “the world’s largest nonlinear optical pulse compression system.” As a private fusion developer, Xcimer wants to “extend the proven science of inertial fusion to industrial scale” with the help of that laser system and “key technologies and innovations from multiple fields.”

The U.S. Army is asking nuclear companies to submit their proposals for microreactors that can be commissioned at military bases to provide clean, reliable power at two domestic military sites.

The bid solicitation window is short—just two weeks—but the army is asking for very high-level proposals from advanced nuclear companies who are ready to jump into action. Following the initial submission period, top contenders for the project will be invited back for pitch sessions; full contracts then will be negotiated.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week announced the window is open for members of the public to request a hearing on the construction permit application for TerraPower’s Natrium nuclear power plant, which is set to be built near Kemmerer, Wyo.

Ken Petersen
president@ans.org

Big news as I write this, my last column as ANS president: Legislation has been passed that will ban the importation of uranium from Russia (though waivers can be used in certain circumstances to continue imports through 2027). This ban has been discussed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I am sure all U.S. utilities have followed their risk-management policies.

With two years to plan, appropriate-use waivers, and access to American Assured Fuel Supply, there should not be any disruption to domestic reactor operations. The ban will force the United States and our Western allies to be independent and stronger. Congress has helped by providing $2.72 billion to support new domestic enrichment capacity. The challenge now is for the Department of Energy to turn this into actual new capacity as quickly as possible.

A new theoretical model about stabilizing plasma in tokamak fusion reactors is described in three papers from a study that was led by research physicist Jason Parisi of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Two papers—“Kinetic-ballooning-limited pedestals in spherical tokamak plasmas” and “Stability and transport of gyrokinetic critical pedestals”—appear in the International Atomic Energy Agency journal Nuclear Fusion. The other paper—“Kinetic-ballooning-bifurcation in tokamak pedestals across shaping and aspect-ratio”—appears in Physics of Plasmas.

John Wagner

As advocates for the environment, national security, and U.S. prosperity, and as believers that the substantial global expansion of nuclear energy is essential to these interests, let’s take a moment to recognize how far we have come.

In recent years, much has changed. Public opinion polls show increasingly broad support for nuclear energy, which has bipartisan and bicameral support in Congress. The U.S. is on the cusp of achievements that could usher in a new era of nuclear energy and reestablish U.S. global leadership. The prevailing question is no longer whether we need nuclear energy, but rather, how much more nuclear power do we need, how can we enable first movers, and how quickly can we deploy new reactors.

During the 2024 International Conference on Nuclear Security (ICONS) in May, representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration discussed U.S. nuclear security priorities, noted their achievements and those of U.S. partners, and explained how to tackle the security challenges of today and tomorrow.

Researchers at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) are teaming up to make the high-performance computing (HPC) powers of NERSC available to DIII-D researchers through ESnet—a high-speed data network. Their collaboration, described in a May 29 news release, in effect boosts the computing power behind DIII-D’s diagnostic tools to make more data from fusion experiments available to researchers at DIII-D in San Diego and to the global fusion research community.

Hanson

Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Christopher Hanson was renominated today by a Senate vote of 81–17 for a five-year term expiring June 30, 2029.

Earlier, in May, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted 18–1 to advance Hanson’s renomination to the NRC. Hanson has been a commissioner since 2020 and was named chair by President Biden in January 2021.

“The American Nuclear Society commends the Senate for confirming the renomination of Christopher T. Hanson as chair of the U.S. NRC,” said American Nuclear Society Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy. “We look forward to Chair Hanson’s continued leadership in ensuring the safe and efficient operation of our existing nuclear power plants and in developing a robust licensing framework for new nuclear technologies. The NRC is vital in ensuring the safe use of nuclear technology for zero-carbon energy, cancer detection and treatment, food safety, and more.”

Last Energy, a Washington, D.C.-based microreactor developer, announced last week a partnership with the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence (ENSEC) to jointly research military applications for microreactor power and explore opportunities for future microreactor deployments on NATO military installations.

Eight graduate students from Ukrainian universities have completed a two-year Department of Energy internship program that included a visit to Argonne National Laboratory.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) wants Fusion Innovation Research Engine (FIRE) collaboratives to be a bridge between FES’s basic science research programs and the growing fusion industry. A funding opportunity announcement released May 22 explains that FIRE will be a “transformative initiative aimed at creating a fusion innovation ecosystem” with virtual, centrally managed collaboratives working on “end-use inspired” fusion science and technology R&D.

As he joined with other state officials and community stakeholders at a celebration last week marking the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said there’s potential for a fifth nuclear reactor at the site.

White

Robertson

The Department of Energy has selected Candice Robertson to head the department’s Office of Environmental Management as acting assistant secretary (EM-1). Robertson has over 20 years of experience in radioactive waste management and previously served as principal deputy assistant secretary and as an associate principal deputy assistant secretary for DOE-EM.

Robertson replaces William "Ike" White, who was nominated by President Biden on May 23 to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the independent agency responsible for ensuring that DOE facilities are protective of public health and safety. White, who has held the position of EM-1 since June 2019, will continue to serve as a senior advisor while he awaits confirmation to the DNFSB.

As small modular reactor (SMR) and advanced reactor (AR) developers look to build out their supply chains, NAC International (NAC) offers these companies a wide range of products and services for the full range of their nuclear energy facilities.

TerraPower announced May 29 that it will work with Framatome North America to fund the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) metallization pilot plant that Framatome is building at its fuel fabrication facility in Richland, Wash. A successful demonstration of Framatome’s capability of converting enriched uranium oxide to HALEU metal will “support the development of the domestic HALEU supply chain,” both companies say.

Greg Bowman and George Smith work for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in implementing programs that deal with risk, whether to nuclear power plants or from nuclear materials, such as radiological sabotage and theft or diversion of materials. Bowman is the director of the NRC’s Division of Physical and Cybersecurity Policy in the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. Smith is the senior project manager for security in the Source Management & Protection Branch of the Division of Materials Safety, Security, State, and Tribal Programs in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards.

The three initiatives Bowman and Smith discussed with Nuclear News editor-in-chief Rick Michal are the Insider Threat Program, the Cybersecurity Program, and the Domestic Safeguards Program.

Switzerland’s national cooperative for the disposal of radioactive waste, Nagra, is distancing itself from recent reports regarding the work of the Geneva-based engineering start-up Transmutex, which claims to have developed a new technology for the transmutation of radioactive waste.

. . . and today.

Halil Avci in 1975 . . .

We welcome ANS members who have careered in the community to submit their own Nuclear Legacy stories, so that the personal history of nuclear power can be captured. For information on submitting your stories, contact nucnews@ans.org.

For me, going into nuclear engineering was an adventure. In 1968, as a 17-year-old in a small village in western Turkey, I took a government exam designed to select students to send abroad for college. I had to pick a major and a country before the exam, so I picked nuclear engineering and America because they both seemed exciting and full of potential. I came to the United States with the intent to obtain my bachelor’s degree and return to Turkey without delay, because I was told that I was needed to work on the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant starting in 1974. That nuclear plant project did not materialize as planned, nor did I return to Turkey as expected.

An official from Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company Rosatom said this week that there are no current plans to reopen the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.